This post is part of a long series I plan to report about Palestine as a country, culture, and humans across multiple communities in hopes that I spread the word about Palestine and what is happening there.
The fact that I am an Arab obviously comes with perceived bias which is a perception that I accept considering that most of the people on this platform are not Arabs. As much as I believe it is something I am able to refute using my own history, I prefer to keep the focus of this series on Palestine itself and let the series speak for itself.
However, considering the aforementioned fact of my identity, I have challenged myself and limited myself to use mostly sources that are outside of the Arab world when it comes to facts. Therefore, all the events mentioned here come from non-Arab sources which you will be able to verify yourself by reading the sources below. In fact, I implore you to check out those sources regardless of the series.
According to Israeli Historian Ilan Pappe, Palestinians were described in the letters between Balfour, Churchill, and Herbert Samuel as "Arab" or "Mohammedan". You might think that "Arab" is accurate but it didn't convey the same meaning it does today, Arab was a term used to mean nomadic or primitive. Basically the picture of camels and tents. Also, "Mohammedan" means merely followers of Mohammed, so Islam wasn't even seen as a legitimate religion.
In those letters we see a reflection of how the colonizers view Palestine as a part of primitive groups, thus they don't have identity or privacy. As if they were primitive tribes that just unfortunately happened to live there. Winston Churchill said the time and very bluntly;
I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place
If you're keeping taps, then Churchill just managed in one paragraph to be bigoted and racist toward three different races at once. But that's what it is, that's what it was, Arabs were merely dogs who just happened to lay in Palestine awaiting a higher-grade race to take over. Also, notice the clear admission that they are there to take their place.
Among all three "dogs" there's one superior race having the final say in their land, "Civilized Europeans", whether British or Jewish in Palestine's scenario. Accordingly with that mentality Jewish immigration continued. Until they reached 27% of the population in 1935, from 3% to 27%. Resistance never stopped, revolting against unfair British and Zionist colonization never stopped.
The Revolution
One of the major revolutionists against the British and Zionists was an Al-Azhar University graduate who turned from a breather in Istqilal Mosque in Haifa to a leader of an armed movement against the British. The name of that leader was Izz al-Din al-Qassam, a man who was joined by thousands of volunteers who provided him with ammunition and weapons.
Bear in mind this was happening after Palestinians already tried protesting and they did so as they saw other Arab countries, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and so on, slowly being granted their sovereignty, but they knew their case was different. This also provides an answer to the argument that states "If Palestine was a country then name a president of it".
Anyway, the occupation succeeded in killing al-Qassam in an unfair battle. His funeral saw the beginning of the people's movement in Palestine as 30 thousand people attended his funeral along with others falling revolutionists. This movement turned into a complete revolt from April to October of 1936. It was the spark of the Great Arab Revolt. The British and Zionists were surprised by the revolt, it was rather shocking that the dog in the manger was resisting.
Between 1936 and 1937, the British killed a thousand Palestinians and arrested anyone partaking in the revolution, not only that, they would also blow up their homes and destroy them. In Jaffa alone, more than 200 houses were demolished.
Britain gave Jewish settlers everything they needed my friend. They made their immigration easier, built areas with closed Jewish communities with organization and infrastructures, fought Palestinians on their behalf and killed their leaders, it oppressed Palestinians until the point where 10% of Palestinian men in 1940 were either killed, jailed, or exiled. In addition, Britain planted racist ideas against the natives of the occupied land.
In summary, the British taught the Zionists all the wrong and bad things, except for one. What Zionists needed to learn from Britain was the idea of colonization.
Zionist Ambition Has No Bound
The Zionist colonial ambition increased more. The other thing that Britain helped Zionists with was developing the military force to achieve such ambition. In 1937, a commission was created called the Peel Commission. That commission suggested dividing the land between a million Palestinians and 400,000 Jews. One-third for the Jews and two-thirds for Palestinians. The problem with that is Palestinians were everywhere, it's not surprising of course as it was their land.
That created an issue for Zionism because no matter where they were in the land, Palestinians still made the majority. It is in front of this commission that Churchill would affirm his "Dogs in the Manger" statement. Britain wanted to apply the commission's suggestion but changed its mind. However, professor of history at Oxford University, Eugene Rogan said that the Peel Commission was the first to suggest the idea of expulsion.
At this point, there was no need to buy lands and create closed communities anymore. The final solution was here and Zionists sought to force people out of their land and create religiously and ethnically unified places for Europeans. Did it stop there and Zionists just wanted to kick Palestinians out of their third? No, Zionists reached the point of limitless colonial ambition.
Ben Gurion and the Zionist leaders sat down and thought that the expulsion idea was the best, what if instead of forcing them out of a third of Palestine, why not kick them out of the entirety of Palestine? Later, the Director of the Jewish Agency, Josef Weitz said that there won't be a land for two people.
The settlers' ambition reached a point that exceeded Britain itself.
Violence is the Final Solution
Another thing that Zionists learned from Britain was limitless violence in order to achieve their ambition. It all happened gradually.
Between 1937 and 1939, the Zionists would commit exceptional acts of terrorism. You might think I am just saying terrorist in an exaggerated form, I am not. They started sending bombed cars to Haifa and Jerusalem markets killing over 70 Palestinians. All of that was happening under the eyes of the British. Again, this is the point where I would like ittirate the necessity of checking the sources as these are Israeli sources.
Anyway, the British reaction to this violence committed by Zionists wasn't to fight against it, but instead to increase the number of soldiers in Palestine to 25,000 soldiers. They killed 5000 people and arrested 9000 in conditions that Eugene Rogan described as Concentration Camps.
However, despite all of the British spoiling and coddling of Zionists, Britain remained an empire that wouldn't last for long, thus, in order for Zionists to protect their interests, they had to have an independent army to avoid having their fate constantly tied with Britain, especially since there was a conflict in the horizon because the first World War was beginning in 1939, Britain would limit the Jewish immigration to Palestine.
Britain installed a limit of 15,000 thousand Jewish immigrants annually. The reason for that was to decrease the level of tension with Arabs so they could stay focused on the war against Hitler in Europe, which ironically, was the actual place where Jewish people were being oppressed and murdered.
That would have been the point of conflict between the two sides, Zionists and Britain, but it wasn't as 15,000 Jewish soldiers joined the British Army, but more on that and the reasons behind it in the next part of this series.
Previous Parts
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 1: Tantura
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 2: Protecting The Israel Mythology
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 3: The Israel Foundation Myth
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 4: The "One People" Myth
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 5: The "Zionism is Judaism" Myth
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 6: The "Land Without a People" Myth
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 7: The "Independence" Myth (Chapter 1)
Follow-up parts
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 9: The "Independence" Myth (Chapter 3)
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 10: The "Independence" Myth (Final Chapter
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 11: The "David vs Goliath" Myth (1/2)
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 12: The "David vs Goliath" Myth (2/2)
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Final Part: The "Only Democracy in the Middle East" Myth
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Responding to Arguments and Concerns
The Tragic Story of Palestine - "It Was A Hamas Base of Operation"
The Tragic Story of Israel
School Lessons From Gaza
Sources
The Arabs: A History - Eugene Rogan
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine - Ilan Pappe
Ten Myths About Israel - Ilan Pappe
Palestine: ...it is something colonial (Decolonizing the mind)
One hundred questions and answers about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Pedro Brieger
Tantura Documentary
Executions and Mass Graves in Tantura - Forensic Architecture
Israel’s 55-year occupation of Palestinian Territory is apartheid – UN human rights expert
"Nakba Law" - Amendment No. 40 to the Budgets Foundations Law
Eye Witnesses Statments
Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe - Episode 1 | Featured Documentary
Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe - Episode 2 | Featured Documentary
Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe - Episode 3 | Featured Documentary
Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe - Episode 4 | Featured Documentary
Anatomy of the Israeli mind
Collusion Across The Jordan: King Abdullah, The Zionist Movement, And The Partition Of Palestine - Avi Shlaim